United Way Studies Uniting Office Space

Agencies' Space Needs Examined

WILLIAMSBURG — The United Way of Greater Williamsburg is exploring the consolidation of office space for several agencies in one building, the executive director said.

The agency began an in-depth study in January of the needs of the 21 agencies supported by United Way fund-raising campaigns, said Kerry Mellette. Preliminary findings from a telephone survey showed that 12 of the agencies need about 15,000 square feet more to meet their needs. The other nine indicated their space was adequate.

The results of the survey will be available next month, Mellette said.

Although this is the first time United Way has conducted such a survey of the agencies, Mellette said, the idea of consolidating agencies into one location is not a novel one.

Simultaneously with United Way's survey, a local citizens activist group, Citizens for Community Progress, is lobbying Williamsburg City Council to make Bruton Heights School, vacant for 11 months, available for a variety of community activities including housing several of the same agencies.

In late 1985 and early 1986, some United Way executive board members conducted an informal search for space in which all the agencies could be housed. They say the search was prompted by United Way's own space needs and more than $20,000 in annual rent the 21 agencies were paying at the time.

Mellette said the 21 agencies expect to pay about $150,000 in mortgage and lease payments for office space in 1991.

In late 1985, the United Way was in just one room of the building it still occupies on Cary Street, said Nancy Harris, a former vice president.

Vinson Sutlive, then a vice president and later president of United Way, said existing and proposed buildings were considered, but the idea proved expensive and impractical, he said.

Two buildings were ruled out as being inadequate, inaccessible or expensive. One, a building formerly occupied by Bucktrout Funeral Service on Cary Street, was too far away from the agencies' clients; a building near the Virginia Power office on Ironbound Road, which was for sale for about $300,000, was too expensive, Harris said.

The search was complicated by the diverse needs of the agencies, Sutlive said. One of the agencies, the Task Force for Battered Women, was in "desperate need" of a separate, permanent place. Confidentiality is critical for the task force, which serves as a refuge for abused women. It was not "optimum" to have the the office combined with other agencies, Sutlive said.

Most of the clients of the Child Development Resources reside in the upper part of the county, making an urban location for a central office virtually inacessible to those residents, Sutlive said.

Another agency, Rita Welsh Adult Skills, is housed in rooms provided rent free by The College of William and Mary.

"It was impractical to take on rent for an agency not used to paying rent," Sutlive said.

There also was not enough money to acquire a building. Harris, Sutlive's successor on the United Way board, said financing the building on Ironbound Road was never formally explored. She said because of the lack of substantial capital, the idea of becoming a landlord was "putting the cart before the horse."

Mellette said the obstacles that made it impractical to become a landlord then are not insurmountable but do present challenges.

The survey was prompted by the increased awareness brought on by the interest in acquiring the Bruton Heights school property for, among other things, a central location for area social service agencies. The survey is designed to determine in detail the needs and how much money is available to meet those needs, Mellette said.

Citizens for Community Progress conducted a survey last fall that showed a need for space. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation is also seeking to acquire the property - by purchase or land swap - to consolidate its edcuational programs.

United Way, by contrast, has not begun to consider potential sites, except in informal brainstorming sessions, because it would be premature until the needs are determined, Mellette said. The work done by the citizens group increased community awareness, however, that that is a key component in developing the community concept, Mellette said.

One possible location is on Queen Anne Terrace near Skipwith Farms subdivision. The building that formerly housed Jamestown Academy has been vacant since the private school closed last summer, said Marides Daus, the real estate agent handling the property.

The owner, Northern Virginia businessman Salah Turkmani, wants to sell the 19,100-square-foot building for about $750,000, Daus said, but will consider a lease purchase arrangement.

William T. Bryant, president of the citizens group, said the building was briefly considered last summer as a site where the community service agencies could be combined with some cultural, civic and recreational activities, but it was determined it would not be adequate for all of those functions.